President Vladimir Putin ventured to Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, marking a notably infrequent international excursion since his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine earlier this year.
During his visit, Putin met with the Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov and is scheduled to participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States summit on Friday, hosted by Kyrgyzstan and attended by leaders from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
This journey represents Putin’s inaugural travel beyond Russia and the Russian-controlled Ukrainian regions this year, having previously visited the partially occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson, as well as the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, focusing on the deportation of children from Ukraine.
Nations adherent to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, are consequently obliged to detain the Russian leader should he enter their territories.
This situation prompted Putin to forgo an economic summit in South Africa in August and exacerbated tensions with Armenia—despite assurances from Armenian officials of Putin’s safety upon entering their country—when it took steps to ratify the Rome Statute recently.
While the Kremlin has declared that Russia does not acknowledge the ICC’s jurisdiction and deems the warrant to be without merit, it is notable that Kyrgyzstan has not signed the Rome Statute, whereas Tajikistan has.
After Ukraine’s invasion last year, and amidst escalating global isolation, the President visited both Central Asian countries, in addition to other nations including Armenia, Belarus, China, India, and Iran in 2022.
The Russian leader is anticipated to visit China later in the month and has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, though the timing remains uncertain.
